


i'll be your person if you need one

by sentichefuoripiove



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: F/M, but also i miss merthan, but honestly there's no reference to anything so you do you, the mer/owen friendship is very important to me so this was just an excuse to write them I'm sorry, this lives in the criminally short time between 13x20 and 23 i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:21:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25239925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sentichefuoripiove/pseuds/sentichefuoripiove
Summary: So, when Nathan finds her an hour later while she’s updating the OR board, asking if she wants to have some dinner with him, she says yes, because she’s completely exhausted, ravenously hungry and fiercely missing him.Meredith and Nathan get caught at the end of their impromptu date.
Relationships: Meredith Grey & Owen Hunt, Meredith Grey/Nathan Riggs
Comments: 6
Kudos: 29





	i'll be your person if you need one

Sometimes, Meredith thinks she really should feel too old to do things like this. 

She has been working nonstop through that pile-up on the interstate and she hasn’t seen Nathan all day, killing their plans to have lunch together. Not that it really mattered, because this thing between them is new and _easy_ , and it’s fine if sometimes plans fall through, she has to remind herself. They both know how their job works, and yet she spent her last surgery with a guilty, nagging feeling tugging at her heart.

She was looking forward to it, as silly as it sounds.

So, when Nathan finds her an hour later while she’s updating the OR board, asking if she wants to have some dinner with him, she says yes, because she’s completely exhausted, ravenously hungry and fiercely missing him. 

_Shut up, all three of those are perfectly reasonable motives and none of them are embarrassing at all for a very accomplished, mother-of-three surgeon_ , she tells her brain, smiles at him and says yes.

He presents her with two tightly tinfoil-wrapped burritos, two bottles of what she’s grateful is not beer (she’s still on call after this and she tries to push the exhausting notion out of her mind) and a container of pie, all laid out on the hood of one of the ambulances in the bay. 

Meredith rolls her eyes and smiles at his cheesy and smug grin as he gestures proudly at their makeshift picnic, and the rest of the date (as he insists on calling it) is easy, easier than most things in her life have ever been. They talk about work, and her kids, and the movie they went to see the other day that Nathan liked and Meredith found stupid. They bicker, like they’ve always done ever since they met, but there’s no bite to it anymore, the righteous hate she used to feel when she had to talk to him has been replaced with some sort of fondness that makes her feel warm inside.

She is still trying to figure out when exactly that happened.

“You know what I think?” he asks her, through a mouthful of pie. Meredith, just as focused on her food, simply hums in encouragement, not really looking up from her plate.  
“I think we should take a trip together somewhere” he says, and she doesn’t need to look up to hear the smile in his voice, and her heart skips a beat.

_A trip? Together? Has he lost his mind?_

She must look not as dumbfounded as she feels, because Nathan just keeps talking like it’s no big deal. Maybe he didn’t notice the panic painted on her face and he’s just running his mouth a mile a minute, or maybe he totally did and he’s trying to make her less uncomfortable, blurting out any explanation to justify his proposition.

The idea that they might be so in synch already that he would know when something freaks her out, and that he knows her so well that he’s already learned how to fix it, makes her blush a little. She stares at him, waiting.

“The last one we attempted went so horribly wrong that we didn’t even get to our destination! I think we earned it” he shrugs, and Meredith knows he’s trying to play it cool when actually he’s a ball of nerves inside. She finds it endearing, but not enough to refrain from making fun of him a little.

“Does it count as a trip _together_ if we didn’t even know we were both going until we got on the plane?”

“As far as I’m concerned, we _ended_ it together, and that’s good enough for me.” Nathan’s grinning shamelessly at her, and he looks so smug, and _charming_ that she almost wants to slap him, or maybe kiss him, she’s not really sure. 

Meredith rolls her eyes at him, which makes him laugh, and she hops off the hood of the ambulance in one quick motion, balling up the napkin in her hands and throwing it with the remains of their dinner. Nathan follows her example, reaching out to grab her by the elbow and pulling her to him as he lands on the ground too. Meredith doesn’t resist, and she finds herself nestled in between his legs, his arms looped around her waist, holding her close.

He doesn’t say anything, but he’s looking at her, smiling softly, and she feels her entire body truly relax for the first time today, letting her weight rest against Nathan’s chest. She holds his gaze, timidly returning his smile, and sighs.

“What is it?” he asks, quietly, his breath brushing her cheek.

“Nothing. This is nice” Meredith offers, patting him lightly on the chest with the hand trapped between their bodies. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe a vacation could be kind of nice.”

“Really?” There’s an excited twinkle in his eyes, his glee quickly turning into mischief, “Did I finally do something right, Dr Grey?” he mocks her, grinning, and she finds herself giggling, thinking, not for the first time today, that she should be too old to be feeling this way.

“Maybe you did.”

Meredith closes her eyes when he kisses her, losing herself in the moment. The kiss is languid, and even in the empty ambulance bay, they’re both fully aware they are in public right now, and she can feel Nathan holding back, trying not to let this become a full-blown make out session. It’s still passionate, though, and sweet, and amazing, and Meredith doesn’t really know how long they’ve been holding onto each other this way until she hears someone clear their throat behind her, and she freezes.

_Great._

_Bailey hates it when she has to see stuff like this._

Meredith disentangles from Nathan enough to turn around and see who caught them. She expects Bailey, with all her usual disappointment and annoyance, but instead it’s Owen, who’s looking at them like he’s wondering if he’s stepped into some sort of alternate reality.

Wait.

_Did they forget to tell Owen?_

“Oh, I’m- sorry, I didn’t mean to- huh…” Owen stutters. His eyes have gone wide, his eyebrows disappearing into his hairline. Meredith visibly winces, and Nathan must notice, because his hand immediately flies to her waist, keeping her in place and squeezing reassuringly. _Take a deep breath, Mer._

“Hey Hunt, you need us back inside?” Nathan’s tone is casual, light, and it’s clear that he’s the only one between the three of them that’s succeeding in not letting awkwardness get the best of him. Meredith wonders for a second how many times he’s been here before, getting caught by Owen with a girl the man cares about. She forces the thought out of her mind before it can do any of its usual damage.

“No, don’t worry, things are going fine. Actually, I came to find Meredith because- I wanted to talk about Amelia, but I can leave you if-”

“Of course man. It’s fine, she’s all yours. I have to go anyway, Pierce is probably about ready to have my head.” Nathan shifts his gaze back to Meredith then, placing his hands on her shoulders reassuringly. He keeps his eyes on her until Meredith returns the look, silently checking if anything about the situation is freaking her out enough that he’d need to stay. He must see that the answer to that is _no_ , that he can leave her alone to fend for herself, because the corner of his mouth quirks up with a smile, and he places a sloppy kiss on her cheek ( _he’s going to pay for that later,_ she thinks) before disentangling himself from between her and the car.

Meredith looks down at her shoes, feeling awkward, so she misses the look Nathan and Owen share as Nathan makes his way back inside: it’s charged with everything they still aren’t able to say to each other, no matter how much they’ve managed to repair their relationship in the past few years. 

When she hears the sliding doors of the ER swoosh close, Meredith finally turns to look at Owen, who’s still awkwardly standing in the middle of the ambulance bay.

“So that’s… a thing that is happening?” Owen blurts out with a tiny smile, and Meredith laughs, the tension and the nervousness dissipating in front of his stricken face. He attempts his own smile, a low shaky chuckle escaping his throat. He crosses the short distance that is separating them, and slumps against the side of the ambulance. Meredith mirrors him, and now they’re side to side, silence filling the space between them.

“I sorry we didn’t tell you” she offers, breaking the silence, “to be honest, I kind of thought you already knew.”

“I had no idea. I really need to pay more attention to hospital gossip, huh?” he smiles, shuffling some of the gravel on the ground with his feet, restless. “I just-”

“I know. I’m sorry if it’s weird for you.”

“I- it’s not, really.” He grows serious again, and turns to look at her properly. “I just don’t want you to get hurt, and I hope that you know what you’re doing-”

“Owen” she warns him, and she doesn’t mean for it to come off as stern and scolding as it does, but she can see where his words are going, and she doesn’t need to hear any of it. 

She _does_ know what she’s getting herself into. She’s known for a long time, and she tried to fight it for as long as she could, out of her sense of loyalty to Owen, and Maggie, before she realized it was not something that she needed to fight after all. She’s made the decision now, sure of what she wants, and even though she’s never done things just to appease others, she’s just now realizing that maybe she does need Owen’s approval after all.

Owen seems to understand what she’s thinking, or at least a part of it, because he looks down again, apologetic, a million emotions flashing across his face. Meredith understands how hard this might be for him.

It takes him a minute, but when he whips his head back up Owen’s smiling, and he bumps his shoulder conspiratorially against hers when he whispers “So, we don’t hate him anymore now, huh?”

Her brain clicks immediately, the entire situation a deja-vu of something they’re already experienced once, and at the same time the polar opposite of that moment, lost in the past of what feels like a lifetime ago. She laughs, fully, Owen following her with a chuckle. She’s flooded with a warm sense of affection at her long time friend, and before she can help herself they’re hugging, both twisting a little uncomfortably against the side of the rig.

“No, I guess we don’t” she smiles brightly when they separate, and she realizes this is the first time she’s had to actually tell anyone about her and Nathan (Alex doesn’t really count, and with Maggie it went so badly she’s decided to block it out forever). It feels exciting, and freeing, and suddenly she’s glad Owen walked in on them tonight.

Now that she’s telling people, it’s dawning on her how real the whole thing has just become: if it’s something that it’s worth sharing, it’s something that is going to last.

“Okay now. What’s with Amelia this time?”

**Author's Note:**

> this really just started as shameless friendship feelings but it somehow grew a little merthan plot... i'm not really sure what it is, but it made me happy and i hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> you can leave a comment, if you want, or you can find me on [tumblr](https://sentichefuoripiove.tumblr.com).
> 
> thanks for reading!


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